Caught Off Guard
by Bookworm Believer
Summary: Draco runs a high class wizard escort business and is contacted by Harry Potter for his help. Harry is fed up with not having a date for all of the 'important' Ministry functions he is required to attend and contacts Draco Malfoy in hopes that he can help rectify his situation. Full summary inside. For the Quote of the Day/Week/Month Comp. Pre-slash/Drarry friendship


**A/N: I'm back again! I've just entered Chihori Anigma's Quote of the Day/Week/Month Competition. Basically, we get given a topic and a quote that relates to that topic and have a certain amount of time to write a response. This one was written for the first day topic and quote (which I've written below). **

**I hope you all enjoy. Please review if you like it.**

**January 1****st**** 2015 **

Topic: Newness

Quote: There's always a sense of newness with acting, because every role, you come to every role fresh. -Lupita Nyong'o

**Summary: **Draco runs a high class wizard escort business and is contacted by Harry Potter for his help. Harry is fed up with not having a date for all of the 'important' Ministry functions he is required to attend and contacts Draco Malfoy in hopes that he can help rectify his situation. This is the story of their first meeting after Harry asked Draco for help. Takes place post-Hogwarts. Suppose you could call it pre-slash, or friendship between Harry and Draco. Both characters have matured since their boyhood rivalry.

'Ahh, finally!' Draco thinks to himself as he sees Potter—sorry, Mr. Potter since he is now a client—approaching the table that Draco had reserved for the two of them in a little known restaurant off the main streets of Diagon Alley.

Standing as his client approached, Draco schooled his face into an indifferent –but polite- expression. Holding out his hand, Draco greets his former school rival.

"Mr. Potter. Glad you found the restaurant."

Draco took a moment to take in Potter's appearance. Having grown since Hogwarts, there are many vast differences to his boyhood rival. He had grown out his once untameable black mop of hair, and it fell in a silky, just-shagged, look that hit the bottom of his collar. His bright green eyes were no longer concealed behind his thick glasses, and his shoulders had broadened, giving him the look of a grown man. He was dressed in a Muggle suit –minus the jacket-, not unlike his own, with a white shirt that was tight across his chest, shoulders and arms, showing off his defined (but not over the top) muscles. Overall, Harry Potter had grown into a very sexy man.

"Malfoy. Thank you for meeting me." Mr. Potter nodded and smiled slightly as he grasped Draco's hand tightly within his own.

"Please take a seat Mr. Potter." Draco gestures as he removes his hand and takes his own seat once again.

"It's Harry, please Malfoy." Potter's eyes sparkled as he sat opposite Draco.

"Well it is Draco for me then...Harry." The name felt foreign on his tongue, and Draco covered his discomfort by pushing his thin-rimmed glasses further up on the bridge of his nose.

They sat in silence for a few moments, glancing between each other and their menus, until their waiter came for their orders. They studied each other curiously until their beverages were brought out; wine for both of them.

Harry started the conversation, "So Draco, may I ask you a question before we really begin business?" That startled Draco, but he covered it by taking a sip of his drink. It seemed there would be a few things about Harry that caught Draco off guard before this evening was concluded.

"You may Harry, as long as it's appropriate dining conversation." Draco didn't want him to bring up anything from our school times, or the war, and hoped Harry received that message.

"Of course not Draco, we are civilised men after all." Harry smirked and shot Draco a wink, surprising him, before continuing, "I actually wanted to ask how you do what you do. Not in a bad way, but how do you do what you do? How do you just fall into a role and not botch it up?"

Draco's eyes widened and he almost choked on the wine in his mouth, but regained what composure he had left. That is definitely not what he expected, talk about really catching him off guard. He took a moment and just studied Harry, as Harry studied him.

"Hmm, that is definitely not what I expected to be asked tonight." Draco leaned forward and rested his chin on top of his hand, "Well Harry, that isn't exactly an easy question to answer."

Harry's eyes turned inquisitive and curious, and he too leaned forward and rested on his hands. "Do you not wish to answer Draco? I won't be offended."

Draco let out a short chuckle, "I said you could ask, did I not? You will get your answer. It's just a matter of putting my thoughts eloquently into words." Draco paused and thought of how he could word his explanation. Part of him hoped that their meals would be brought out, so he would have an excuse for not answering immediately.

Knowing he shouldn't continue stalling, Draco looked Harry in the eyes before launching into his reasoning for the life he leads, "Have you ever, just for a moment, not wanted to be yourself?"

Harry laughed aloud, "You're asking me that? Of all people, I think I would be one that would definitely have had times where I didn't wish to be myself!"

"Of course," Draco allowed himself a small, but true, smile at his old rival before pressing on. "After—after the war, I had no desire to actually play the role of the 'good Pureblood heir' that everyone expected. I wanted, I needed, to be someone other than myself. That's where the idea sprung from."

He paused and took another sip of his drink, hoping it would give him a push to continue, "I love my job Harry, that's something you must know. To play a character, I can put a mask on, and once the event is over that character is gone. I've always been a competent actor and this is just acting. When I get a new client, I throw myself into being my cover, and my cover story becomes who I am. Make sense so far?"

Harry's eyes were wide, but he nodded and gestured for Draco to continue.

"Whoever I am 'playing' for lack of better term, is me. It's a new person, a new face, a new history and a new personality. It's a new everything. Nothing about me, Draco Malfoy, exists when I'm someone else. And as I mentioned, once that role is finished, I become someone else, always putting my last identity behind me." It was true. Draco truly preferred being someone else, and he threw himself into every role with increased vigour.

Harry studied Draco for a few moments before saying anything.

"I think I understand how you do it Draco. You truly become that person. What would you say if I said that the person I wish to accompany me to these ridiculous functions was you, and not just some person you become?"

After a couple of close calls previously, it was this that made Draco finally lose his composure, and he sat there shocked, with wine dribbling down his chin.

**A/N: I hope you all enjoyed! Considering making this into a full fic, but I shall wait to see what sort of reactions I get from it as a one-shot first. The full fic would definitely be slash, and I'd be happy to take suggestions of what you darling people would like to see in it.**


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